Sticking to My Orr Wish List

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a safe, fun night and are ready to make 2012 a banner year in Orr collecting.

2011 was a great year for me as far as Orr collecting went. I picked up a handful of hard to find items that had been on my wish list for some time.

For my first post of 2012, I’m going to show you one of those items that also happens to be the last Orr collectible that I bought in 2011. I consider it a Christmas gift to myself.

Here we have an Orr game used stick. I already have a couple as seen in this post. The difference is that the ones I already had were Victoriaville sticks, which he used from 1969-70 until the end of his career. This stick is a Northland, which he used from 1966 until the end of the 1968-69 season. His Northland sticks are less common and are in my opinion, more desirable. This stick looks like it’s either from his second or third year in the league.

Here are some closer looks at the stick.

As you can see in the photos, Orr autographed the stick between the Glass Fused and Northland stamps. It’s stamped with his name, and it has the single stand of tape on the blade which he was known for doing.

This stick came courtesy of Sportsworld on route 1 in Saugus. When I saw it I just couldn’t pass it up. As with any Orr stick, it didn’t come cheaply, but then again, considering it’s an early game used example, the price was more than fair in my opinion.

There you have the first post of 2012. 51 more to come this year. Once again Happy New Year and thanks as always for reading. See you again next weekend with more Bobby Orr items.

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17 Responses to “Sticking to My Orr Wish List”

very nice addition. do you know the provenance of this twig? I know Sportsworld bought a Orr Northland from the late Gilles Marotte a while back, cant be the same one because it’s been a few years and Phil surley would have misplaced it by now.
Happy New Year and see you in the trenches.

Thank both Dave and The Goog! A grading service might be able to do it, but I haven’t heard of an instance when they have. More often than not you can just tell by the shape of the stick and the markings on it, like a name stamp and where it was made. A lot of times I look to match it to a photo of the player in question. I look for things like does the tape on the handle and the blade match with what’s in the picture. Any wear on the stick would likely indicate that it was game used. Back in Orr’s day players used sticks in both practice and games until they broke.

Newer sticks maybe, but the older wooden sticks I think would be very tough to do so. Even if you found a stick from that era, you’d have to change the stamps on the stick to match whatever player you want. That would be very difficult. Any tape you apply would automatically give it away as it would look to new and still be sticky.

Gary, how do you know this stick is game used by Orr himself? what is the provenance? I have a stick which was used for a book he did “Orr on Ice” and photo matched. I know Orr himself refuses to authenticate his sticks.

The only way to know 100% is to have it handed to you directly from Orr, or if you got it from a teammate who received it from Orr himself. Alot of it I admit is faith. In the instance of this stick, the wear and tear on it suggests game use. Orr also taped the handle of his sticks in a very particular way and this stick matches that pattern.

I would much rather get an Orr stick unautographed and send it to great North Road for signature. At least then you get the holograms and certificate of authenticity. Gary, I live in Malden and would to see your collection. I also collect Orr items and wonder if you have any items for sale?

Thanks for the comment John. To be honest, I never bother with a hologram or certificate of authenticity. Most of the autographs I get are in person. I know that a player signed it and that’s good enough for me. As far as the Orr signature, I think I’ve seen enough of them over the years feel fairly comfotable in spotting what’s real and what’s a fake. I don’t sell any of my Orr memorabilia. I’m strictly a collector, not a dealer. Good luck with your collection and thanks again for reading.

Hi.. nice orr sticks… I have a couple on my site and will be putting all 7 of them up at some point. I was wondering about the knob on your Northland. I have not seen any Northlands with the ribbed tape job. I have a rookie one and a CCM that are tapped in the corn roll style and i think he started that other type in early 1970. Just wondering if you have seen that style before on a Northland. Thanks, Todd.

Hi Todd, thanks for reading and for the comment. First, you have a great site! Loved the D. Smith and Gilbert jerseys as well as the sticks. As for the Orr stick, the tape was coming off of it when I bought it and I put it back on the best I could. That’s why it looks like that. I have seen a few Orr Northland sticks and don’t remember ever seeing that style before. Any other Orr collector who reads this please chime in. I’ll be keeping an eye on your site Todd to see those other sticks you have. Thanks again.

Hi Gary.. Sorry, just saw this comment from a while back.. Thanks for the compliments on the site and gear. Been a Bruins fan since i was a kid,Leafs too but they are killin me!! lol

Which style have you not seen before? Corn roll or the ribbed type on your Northland? I can send you some pictures of the rookie Northland and the CCM stick for comparison. On the site, you will see that the Orr sticks from that era, all have the ribbed variety while all my older ones have the corn role style.

I really enjoy reading your posts and have a question to ask. I have a game used Orr stick from around 1970 – 1973 in mint shape. I won the stick from Dixie Arena Gardens in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The stick is sanded down on one side and signed by 14 players in black marker. In order, Cashman, Bailey, Awrey, Hodge, Vadnais, Smith, Stanfield, Walton, Esposito, Green, Fonstall, Orr, Bucyk, and I can’t make out the last one, Sanderson? It is a Victoriaville Pro Patented 1960 # 591454. I know it is authentic as I received this personally and Fred Stanfield arranged to get the sticks for the Easter Dixie Arena tournaments. I’m not looking to sell this but in your opinion what would the value of this stick be?

Hi Al, great item you have there! The key to the stick is if it’s actually game used or just game issued. Is there tape on it? If it’s game issued then I’d say the value is $500 – $750. An actual Orr game used stick increases it to $1000 – $1500. Thanks for reading!